Why does Remand even exist?
General forum
Posted on July 26, 2020, 5:46 a.m. by Genderfluidia
Honest question, why would anyone want to cast Remand, ever? On the surface, I'd much rather pay an extra manna to permanently counter the target spell, card draw be damned. Is there something I'm missing, or is it just a bad card?
July 26, 2020 6:50 a.m.
It's also a very important card in Modern storm (whenever it's a deck), where Remanding your own Grapeshot or Empty the Warrens means you basically get "double storm +1" because you can cast it again, and because Remand adds to the storm count.
Similarly, in combo decks where you just need to stop interaction from breaking up your combo, Remand is cheap, easy to cast, and draws you a card just in case!
July 26, 2020 9:33 a.m. Edited.
ThePerilousRealm says... #6
Good spell in a Sen Triplets deck. Allows you to prevent your opponent from playing a card, while keeping it available for use by you on your next turn.
July 26, 2020 10:08 a.m.
SynergyBuild says... #7
It's also able to do a variety of tricks, first off in a Baral, Chief of Compliance deck it a 1 blue Chart a Course that bounces a spell or resets storm/replicate/on-cast triggers, and it triggers things like Lullmage Mentor while losing 0 cards in hand.
July 26, 2020 10:39 a.m.
In Modern, you cannot really afford to run a large number of 3+ mana counterspells (Archmage's Charm and Cryptic Command see play, but always in low numbers as they are late-game plays). 3+ Mana counterspells come down too late to stop a number of early-game threats and take up too much mana in the late game, preventing you from fielding threats of your own.
Think of Remand as a card that buys you an extra turn while also drawing you a card, so you are not at disadvantage, and are also forewarned about what threats are in their hand.
Sure, it doesn’t stop them outright, but you’re still getting a lot of value for 2 mana.
July 26, 2020 11:29 a.m.
Omniscience_is_life says... #9
Narset's Reversal is a (relatively) similar card, it all depends on whether you'd rather copy a spell or draw a card
July 26, 2020 1:17 p.m.
SynergyBuild says... #10
Omniscience_is_life That one can work on cards like Abrupt Decay, but not on any creature, enchantment, planeswalker, or artifact.
July 26, 2020 1:35 p.m.
TypicalTimmy - Remand is clearly designed for Modern, not just draft. Remand appears in a whopping 10.1% of Modern decks, with an average of 3 copies being run in decks where it appears. It is the 5th most common counterspell in Modern, and most of the cards that beat it--Cryptic Command, Force of Negation, and Archmage's Charm--were all printed after Remand.
Source: MTGTop8
There is a reason Remand got a Modern Masters reprint.
July 26, 2020 2:31 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #12
The first Remand printing was 6 years before Modern was even a format. It is just a supremely well balanced card that can enable shenanigans. It is mostly a tempo play with the effect of bouncing a spell back to its owner's hand. It can be a hard counter on flashed back cards or enable storm decks to go off with lower storm counts. All of this without putting you down a card, merely mana.
July 26, 2020 9:01 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #13
Genderfluidia, I once wondered the same thing, until I used the card in an actual game, and I realized that it is an awesome card.
If used against an opponent, it forces them to recast the same spell, which is actually bad for them and good for you, because they are wasting mana that they could have used for another spell.
However, the true and best usage of the spell is in this type of scenario:
Imagine that you cast Lightning Bolt and target an opponent with it; that opponent then casts Negate to counter your lighting bolt. At that point, you have two options: for the first option, you may cast Remand to counter the negate, which shall cause that spell to return to its owner's hand, you to draw a card, and your lightning bolt to resolve. The second option, however, is usually the better one: instead, you should target your own lightning bolt, which shall cause that spell to return to your hand for recasting, you shall draw an additional card, and the opponent's negate shall fizzle due to not having a legal target.
Is that a good explanation for why remand is such a great card?
July 26, 2020 11:57 p.m.
BrandonJamesCAC says... #14
Controversial Comment here, maybe?
But a nuanced casting of Remand in response to a Counterspell, you Remand your own spell. They lose a card. And you "Draw Two" essentially.
Besides Dovin's Veto it's the only 2cc counter I will play in Modern
July 27, 2020 1:35 a.m.
TriusMalarky says... #15
It's absurd against anything that's not 1 cmc. Gets worse as the game goes on, but only against more aggressive cards -- 1 and 2 cmc tend to be relatively unaffected.
It's a side-out against aggro, side in against Tron, Control, anything with Prime Time, basically every deck that runs cmc 3 or higher at decent levels. Time Walk is a good card.
July 27, 2020 10:10 a.m.
TriusMalarky says... #16
Well, nobody is actually hardcasting a titan in most situations anyways, are they? Other than them, there are very few other cards with 'on cast' triggers.
Although if people had a lot more mana that would be a good point. Although I feel like if we had access to that much mana we'd have more problems than an easy hardcasted titan.
July 28, 2020 10:16 a.m.
TriusMalarky says... #17
Oh, yeah, I forgot standard was a thing because I tend to ignore garbagefires.
Someday, somehow, maybe standard will be worth playing..... if I had infinite money and there was no other format in existence to play.
July 28, 2020 6:01 p.m.
Well... I'm gonna be nice and say... you need to learn to play magic and then reread this card.
Hjaltrohir says... #2
It's easier to think of it less as a Counterspell and more as a tempo play. In the first few turns of the game, when your opponents are usually casting one spell per turn if you can return that to their hand then essentially you have Time Walked them and they have wasted their turn. It also is decent later game because it cycles itself. Its not a fantastic card in a control deck where yes you would prefer hard counters so you don't have to deal with the spell again later, but in tempo decks like Delver of Secrets Flip builds for example, it can be a valuable tool to keep your opponent behind on resources.
July 26, 2020 6:50 a.m.